Going Green: Five Faces to Follow For Saturday Night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway

Previous Slide

This is the first slide.

Going Green: Five Faces to Follow For Saturday Night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway

1
of 6

Since 1959, the summer race at Daytona International Speedway has marked the unofficial start to the second half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Once run every July 4th, the Coke Zero 400 presented by Coca-Cola is now a part of the Independence Day weekend festivities on Saturday nights.

While it's no longer held under the hot and humid Florida sun, the action is just about as intense and furious as it'd be during the day.

Yes, the large packs that racers and fans had grown up accustomed to are extinct at Daytona and Talladega, but the two-car tandem tactic has its mystique. Drafting is still important and crucial, as drivers often plan their two-car strategies prior to the racing weekend.

You'll see a lot drivers bumpdrafting off each other, which gives the car bumping the racer ahead of them an additional 200 horsepower.

However, too much of that, especially in the corners, can lead to nasty accidents, which can still happen at these fast, bad tracks.

Ask Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson all about that, as they both got swept up in a multi-car crash just after 50 miles into the Daytona 500 this past February. Somebody else's mistake can result in your race ending prematurely.

This track often produces the most dramatic events of the racing season, from the absolutely storybook endings like Trevor Bayne's Daytona 500 win this year to the saddest of moments like the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 spring race.

Who has the guts and courage to make all the right moves in the night at Daytona? If you're asking yourself (or me) that question, you've come to the right place!